celandine
Active member
I would like to draw forumites attention to the all-to-common and reckless disregard exhibited by some yachtsmen for the importance of carrying sufficient tea-bags aboard their boats to ensure proper safety at sea. Too often one hears of yachts that have put to sea, and after a hard afternoon's beat to windward suddenly discover that they are carying insufficient tea-bags, or at least that their tea-bags are out of date.
Now obviously there is nothing wrong with serving up out-of-date or stale-tasting tea to your crew, or even of depriving them of it altogether, but how can even an experienced skipper be expected to keep a firm grasp of events if he or she is in the advanced stages of caffeine withdrawal.
It seems to me that the coffee-drinking beaurocrats of Brussels have missed a trick here. Carrying sufficient in-date tea-bags should surely form part of the most basic regulations, and making good tea whilst underway ought to be fundamental to the syllabus of "competent crew". Let's face it, someone not able to produce the necessary brew at least once an hour in wind strengths up to force six can hardly be fairly described as competent.
So come on Brussels beaurocrats, what we need is another lovely "directive". Lets have detailed and stringent legislation on this - at least a requirement to carry in-date tea bags in a water-tight container, backed up with an emergency pack of Quick Brew. All this should of course be supported by a rigorous program of inspection, certification, fines etc. Only then will we rid yachting of this blight of irresponsible catering in inshore waters.
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Now obviously there is nothing wrong with serving up out-of-date or stale-tasting tea to your crew, or even of depriving them of it altogether, but how can even an experienced skipper be expected to keep a firm grasp of events if he or she is in the advanced stages of caffeine withdrawal.
It seems to me that the coffee-drinking beaurocrats of Brussels have missed a trick here. Carrying sufficient in-date tea-bags should surely form part of the most basic regulations, and making good tea whilst underway ought to be fundamental to the syllabus of "competent crew". Let's face it, someone not able to produce the necessary brew at least once an hour in wind strengths up to force six can hardly be fairly described as competent.
So come on Brussels beaurocrats, what we need is another lovely "directive". Lets have detailed and stringent legislation on this - at least a requirement to carry in-date tea bags in a water-tight container, backed up with an emergency pack of Quick Brew. All this should of course be supported by a rigorous program of inspection, certification, fines etc. Only then will we rid yachting of this blight of irresponsible catering in inshore waters.
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